TMC ready to approve axing 3.5K trees

Mumbai: More than 3,500 tree-cutting proposals had been tabled for approval in the recent meeting of Tree Authority (TA) of Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) headed by the Municipal Commissioner on Wednesday. This is the first meeting post elections and the activists are enraged over the haphazard manner in which proposals are being given for removing trees. Around 949 trees among the proposals are for Metro 4 apart from other development projects.

Thane based activists have opposed the large number of tree-cutting proposals tabled at the meeting at once. “Majority of the proposals are by private developers which is for more than 2000 trees. The cumulative effect of cutting so many trees simultaneously could destroy the green cover of the city,” said Rohit Joshi, a tree activist.

According to sources, the Tree Authority rejected none of the proposals. Even the expert members did not suggest any alternate plans to prevent some trees from being axed. The Tree Authority of TMC was formed earlier again this year after the Bombay high court's directions of constituting the authority as per the Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Protection and Pre-servation of Trees Act, 1975. Following this, five councillors and five independent experts were elected as members of the TA.

Among the 949 tree-cutting proposals, 913 trees have been proposed for transplantation while 36 trees will be cut.

Meanwhile, other big proposals included road development works where 323 trees will be transplanted and 48 trees will be cut. Maximum tree cutting proposals were from private developers like Piramal estates, Lodha group, Pradeep Kamble and associates among others, where more than 200 trees will be impacted.

“Due to elections, the meetings of TA were kept on hold. Many of the proposals are from the earlier pending ones. Now that the TA can function smo-othly, we are looking into the earlier proposals," said a member of Tree Authority of TMC.